Secure closure system for paintball items

ABSTRACT

A closure system according to the present invention comprises a lid and an associated opening defined in an upper surface of the paintball sport item. At least one of the lid and the upper surface includes at least one of a first magnetic portion having a first magnetic polarity or a first magnetically attractable insert. The other of the lid and the upper surface of the paintball sport item include at least one of a second magnetic portion or a second magnetically attractable insert, the at least one second magnetic portion or the second magnetically attractable insert positioned to magnetically engage one of the at least one first magnetic portion and the first magnetically attractable insert when the lid is in a closed position.

CLAIM OF PRIORITY

This application claims the benefit of U.S. application Ser. No.10/899,288, filed Jul. 26, 2004, which claims the benefit of U.S.Provisional Application No. 60/490,177, filed Jul. 25, 2003, which isincorporated herein by reference as if fully set forth.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

This invention relates to paintball sport equipment, and moreparticularly, to improved closures for paintball equipment.

BACKGROUND

Paintball is a sporting game having two teams of players usually tryingto capture one another's flag. The sport is played on a large field withopposing home bases at each end. Each team's flag is located at theplayer's home base. In addition, all of the players have paintballmarkers that shoot paintballs. These paintballs are generally sphericalgelatin capsules filled with paint. During play of the sport, theplayers on each team advance towards the opposing team's base in hopesof stealing the opposing team's flag, without being eliminated from thewar game. A player is eliminated from the game when the player is hit bya paintball fired from an opposing player's marker. When the paintballhits a player, a “splat” of paint is left on the player.

Participating in the sport of paintball requires several pieces ofequipment for carrying, transporting, storing and utilizing thenecessary ammunition, namely, the paintballs. Paintball sport playersrequire means for carrying paintballs during play of the sport.Accordingly, players often carry containers known as “guppies” or“pods”, which are elongate tubes with lids. Currently, the lids of suchpods are held in place by friction, such as by “snap-on” plastic lids,or by screw on lids. There are several problems with such lids. Duringplay, players may not be able to open the container in time to loadpaintballs into a paintball hopper or loader, and are therefore placedin a vulnerable position during sport play. Moreover, the lids may alsoopen when a plastic container is squeezed or otherwise jostled, and aplayer may lose valuable paintballs. Players often have to fumble withthe lids as well, particularly since most players wear cumbersomepaintball sport gloves which compromise dexterity. In addition, theplastic lids wear over time, and the closure becomes less secure andprone to opening.

Paintball hoppers or loaders are used by paintball sport players to feedpaintballs to a marker during play. During play, a player will have toreload the loaders once all of the paintballs in the loader are fired.Such loaders, like the containers, have “snap-on” plastic lids, or lidsor covers which screw into place. These lids suffer the same drawbacksas the container lids. A player who has run out of paintballs is leftvulnerable to opposing players.

In addition, transferring paintballs from a paintball container to thepaintball loader requires some dexterity, and must often be done whilewearing paintball sport gloves. If the paintball container and theopening of the paintball loader are not in proper alignment, thepaintballs could spill during play.

Accordingly, there is a need for a closure for various paintball itemsthat will contain paintballs, and yet can be opened easily duringpaintball sport play with limited requirements for manual dexterity.

There is further the need for a way to align a paintball container andpaintball loader in order to avoid spilling paintballs during play.

SUMMARY

Briefly stated, the present invention is directed to a magnetic closurefor use with items of paintball sport equipment, such as, by way ofexample, a paintball container and/or a paintball loader.

A closure system according to the present invention comprises a lid andan associated opening defined in an upper surface of the paintball sportitem. At least one of the lid and the upper surface includes at leastone of a first magnetic portion having a first magnetic polarity or afirst magnetically attractable insert. The other of the lid and theupper surface of the paintball sport item include at least one of asecond magnetic portion or a second magnetically attractable insert, theat least one second magnetic portion or the second magneticallyattractable insert positioned to magnetically engage one of the at leastone first magnetic portion and the first magnetically attractable insertwhen the lid is in a closed position.

A paintball container according to the present invention comprises acontainer body having an opening for receiving paintballs, and a lid.The lid may or may not be attached to the container body by a retainingelement. A first magnetic portion or first magnetically attractableelement is provided on the inner surface of the lid. A second magneticportion or second magnetically attractable element is provided on aportion of the paintball container adjacent the opening for receivingpaintballs. In an alternate embodiment, a piece of metal that can beattracted to one of the magnetic portions is provided on a portion ofthe paintball container surrounding opening for receiving paintballs orthe lid.

A paintball loader according to the present invention comprises a loaderbody having an opening for receiving paintballs, and a lid. The lid mayor may not be attached to the loader body by a retaining element. Afirst magnetic portion or first magnetically attractable insert isprovided on the inner surface of the lid. A second magnetic portion orsecond magnetically attractable insert is provided on a portion of theloader body adjacent the opening for receiving paintballs.

A system for aligning two paintball sport equipment items is alsoprovided. By way of example, a paintball container and paintball loaderare also provided. A paintball container has a surface surrounding anopening for receiving paintballs. The paintball container surface has amagnetic portion or magnetically attractable insert. A paintball loaderhas a surface surrounding the opening for receiving paintballs. Thepaintball loader surface has a magnetic portion or magneticallyattractable insert for magnetically engaging the magnetic portion of thepaintball container.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The foregoing summary, as well as the following detailed description ofthe preferred embodiments of the invention, will be better understoodwhen read in conjunction with the appended drawings. For the purpose ofillustrating the invention, there is shown in the drawings embodimentswhich are presently preferred. It should be understood, however, thatthe invention is not limited to the precise arrangement shown.

FIG. 1 is a partial perspective view of a closure for a paintballcontainer according to the present invention.

FIG. 2 is a side elevation view of the paintball container of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a top plan view of an embodiment of a lid according to thepresent invention.

FIG. 4 is a partial cross section through a paintball containeraccording to an alternate embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the inner surface of a lid according to anotherembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the inner surface of a lid according to anotherembodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 7 is a top plan view of the opening of a paintball container bodyaccording to an embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 8 is a top plan view of the opening of a paintball container bodyaccording to another embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 9 is a cross section view of a portion of a lid according toanother embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 10 is a perspective view of a paintball loader and lid according tothe present invention.

FIG. 11 is a plan view of a paintball container body or loader bodyaccording to an alternate embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 12 is a plan view of a paintball container body or loader bodyaccording to an alternate embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 13 is a top plan view of a paintball container body according toanother embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 14 is a partial perspective view of a closure for a paintballcontainer according to the present invention.

FIG. 15 is a perspective view of a paintball loader and paintballcontainer according to the present invention.

FIG. 16 is a partial cross-section view of an alternate embodiment of apaintball container according to the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENTS

Certain terminology is used in the following detailed description forconvenience only and is not considered limiting. The word “upper” and“lower” designate directions in the drawings to which reference is made.Additionally, the terms “a” and “one” are defined as including one ormore of the referenced item unless specifically noted.

Referring now to FIG. 1, a first embodiment of a paintball container 10having a closure of the present invention is shown. The paintballcontainer 10 is generally formed from plastic or another suitablematerial. In one embodiment, the paintball container 10 includes acontainer body 12 which holds paintballs 16, as shown in FIG. 2. Thecontainer body 12 has an opening 14 at one end for receiving ordispensing paintballs. The upper portion 36 of the container body 12 hasan upper surface 18 provided adjacent the opening 14. The container mayalso have a lip 72 extending adjacent the upper surface 18.

A lid 20 is provided for closing the opening 14 and securing paintballs16 within the container body 12. The lid 20 may be sized to be slightlylarger than the upper surface 18, or may be of equal size, so long asthe lid 20 will not allow paintballs to fall out of or otherwise beemptied from the paintball container 10 when the lid 20 is in place. Thelid 20 may also be connected to the container body 12 via a retainingelement 92, such as a hinge, a lanyard, a piece of flexible plastic, apiece of cloth, or any other suitable means, so that the lid is not lostor does not drop when disconnected from the container body 12, asdepicted in FIG. 1. The lid 20 has an inner surface 22 which faces thecontainer body 12 when the lid is in a closed position, and an outersurface 24 which faces away from the container body 12. The lid may alsohave an annular wall 26 extending along the outer edge 28 of the innersurface 22, as shown in FIG. 4. The annular wall may be used to “snap”the lid onto the container body, as is known in the art. The annularwall 26 has an inner side 32 facing the container body 12 when the lidis in a closed position. All portions of the lid 20 facing the containerbody 12 when the lid 20 is in a closed position are considered part ofthe inner surface 22, hence the inner side 32 of the annular wall 26 isconsidered part of the inner surface 22.

In a preferred embodiment, the lid 20 includes a first magnetic portion30 for securing the lid 20 to the container body 12. The first magneticportion 30 may be located at any position on the inner surface 22 of thelid 20 but is preferably adjacent the outer edge 28 as shown in FIGS. 1and 2. Alternately, the first magnetic portion 30 may extend from theouter edge 28 of the lid, as shown in FIG. 3. In another embodiment, thefirst magnetic portion 30 may be located on the inner side 32 of theannular wall 26, as shown in FIG. 4. It is appreciated that the firstmagnetic portion 30 may extend along only a portion of the inner surface22. Alternately, the first magnetic portion 30 may extend along theentire length of the inner surface 22 adjacent the outer edge 28, asshown in FIG. 5, or along the entire length of the inner side 32 of theannular wall 26. In addition, it is appreciated that a plurality offirst magnetic portions may be positioned spaced apart on either theinner surface 22 adjacent the outer edge 28, or along the inner side 32of the annular wall 26, as shown in FIG. 6.

The upper portion 36 of the container body 12 is provided with at leastone second magnetic portion 34 adjacent the opening 14 that is sized andpositioned to magnetically engage the first magnetic portion 30 when thelid 20 is in a closed position, as shown in FIGS. 1 and 2. The secondmagnetic portion 34 maybe positioned along the upper portion 36 of thecontainer body 12 adjacent the opening 14 either on the inside 84 oroutside 86 of the container body 12, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. Thesecond magnetic portion 34 may also be positioned adjacent or on theupper surface 18, or in another position elsewhere adjacent the upperportion 36 of the container body 12 adjacent the opening 14. Anyposition is acceptable, so long as the second magnetic portion 34 isaccessible to the first magnetic portion 30.

The second magnetic portion 34 is of opposite polarity as compared tothe polarity of the first magnetic portion 30, such that when the lid 20is placed on the container body 12, the first magnetic portion 30 andsecond magnetic portion 34 hold the lid securely on the container body12 through magnetic attraction. A plurality of second magnetic portions34 may be positioned spaced apart adjacent the upper surface 18 tomagnetically engage a respective plurality of first magnetic portions30. A plurality second magnetic portions 34 may further be positionedspaced apart adjacent the upper portion 36 of the container body 12 tomagnetically engage a respective plurality of first magnetic portions 30positioned spaced along the inner side 32 of the annular wall 26 whenthe lid 20 is in a closed position, as shown in FIGS. 7 and 8. Inaddition, the second magnetic portion 34 may be partially or whollyembedded or otherwise molded into the container body 12 duringmanufacture, as shown in FIG. 2, which shows a portion of the secondmagnetic portion 34 exposed to magnetically engage the first magneticportion 30. However, depending on the strength of one or both of themagnetic portions 30, 34, one or both could be fully embedded.

During paintball sport play, lid 20 is held in place by the force of thefirst magnetic portion 30 and second magnetic portion. Players do nothave to fumble to overcome the presently known “flip top” lids, whilestill maintaining the paintballs securely within the paintball container10. In addition, even if the player is wearing paintball gloves, theclosure of the present invention is easily removed by applying enoughforce to overcome the force of the magnetic attraction. Where a lid isformed also having an annular wall, the magnetic portions may act as asupplement to the frictional action of the annular wall snapping ontothe container body.

In another embodiment, the lid 20 may be reversible, whereby the lid hasmagnetic portions 38 on both the inner 22 and outer 24 surfaces of thelid 20, as shown in FIG. 9. In that manner, a paintball sport playerdoes not have to fumble with the lid to align it properly for closingthe paintball container 10. Rather, either the inner or outer side ofthe lid 20 will be able to engage the upper portion of paintball sportitem surrounding the opening 14 for receiving paintballs.

The closure system of the present invention may also be used inconnection with a paintball loader 40, as shown in FIG. 10. Thepaintball loader 40 may be of any suitable type, such as agitating,gravity feed or active feed paintball loaders. Examples of paintballloaders are U.S. Pat. No. 5,954,042; U.S. Pat. No. 6,109,252; U.S. Pat.No. 6,213,110; U.S. Pat. No. 6,502,567; and, U.S. Pat. No. 6,701,907,the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

A closure system for a paintball loader according to the presentinvention comprises a paintball loader 40, having a loader body 42, withan opening 44 for receiving paintballs. A lid 46 is provided for closingthe opening 44 and securing paintballs 16 within the loader body 42. Thelid 46 may be sized to be slightly larger than the opening 44, or may beof equal size, so long as the lid 46 will not allow paintballs to fallout of or otherwise be emptied from the paintball loader 40 when the lid46 is in place. The lid 46 may also be connected to the loader body viaa retaining element such as a hinge, a lanyard, a piece of flexibleplastic, a piece of cloth, or any other suitable means, so that the lidis not lost or does not drop when disconnected from the loader body 42.The lid 46 has an inner surface 48 which faces the loader body 42, andan outer surface 50 which faces away from the loader body 42. The lidmay also have an annular wall 52 extending along the outer edge 54 ofthe inner surface 48. The annular wall may be sized to “snap” the lidonto the loader body.

The lid 46 further has at least one first magnetic portion 94 forsecuring the lid 46 to the loader body 42. The first magnetic portion 94may be located at any position on the inner surface 48 of the lid 46adjacent the outer edge 54, as discussed previously in connection withlid 20. In another embodiment, the first magnetic portion 94 may belocated on the inner side 32 of the annular wall 52. It is appreciatedthat the first magnetic portion 94 may extend along only a portion ofthe inner surface 48, or the first magnetic portion 94 may extend alongonly a portion of the inner side 56 of the annular wall 52. Alternately,the first magnetic portion 94 may extend along the entire length of theinner surface 48 adjacent the outer edge 54, or the first magneticportion 94 may extend along the length of the inner side 56 of theannular wall 52. In addition, it is appreciated that a plurality offirst magnetic portions may be positioned spaced apart on either theinner surface 48 adjacent the outer edge 54, or along the inner side 56of the annular wall 52.

The upper portion 58 of the loader body 42 adjacent the opening 44 isprovided with at least one second magnetic portion 96 that is sized andpositioned to magnetically engage the first magnetic portion 94. Thesecond magnetic portion 96 may be positioned, for example, at anylocation along the loader body 42 adjacent the opening 44. The secondmagnetic portion 96 is of opposite polarity as compared to the polarityof the first magnetic portion 94, such that when the lid 46 is placed onthe loader body 42, the first magnetic portion 94 and second magneticportion 96 hold the lid securely on the loader body 42. The secondmagnetic portion 96 may be positioned inside 88 of the paintball loaderbody 42 or the outside 90 of the paintball loader body 42, or both.

A plurality of second magnetic portions 96 may be positioned spacedapart adjacent the opening 44 to magnetically engage a respectiveplurality of first magnetic portions 94. A plurality second magneticportions 96 may further be positioned spaced apart on the loader body 42adjacent the opening 44 to magnetically engage a respective plurality offirst magnetic portions 94 positioned spaced along the inner side 56 ofthe annular wall 52. The closure system will operate as described abovein connection with the paintball container 10. The upper portion 58surrounding the opening 44 may also have a lip 74 for releasablyengaging the annular wall 52.

The second magnetic portion 34, 96 may be affixed to the container body12 or loader body 42 by any acceptable means such as, for example, anadhesive or by molding or otherwise forming the second magnetic portion34, 96 integrally with the container body 12 or loader body 42. Thesecond magnetic portion 34, 96 may be held by, for example, thecontainer body 12 or loader body 42 in a pocket 76, such as shown inFIG. 11. The second magnetic portion 34, 96 is held within the pocket76, which may be sized and formed so that the second magnetic portion34, 96 fits securely within the pocket 76, while a portion of the secondmagnetic portion 34, 96 protrudes. The pocket 76 may also be formed withreceiving channels 78, as shown in FIG. 12, so that both the upper side80 and outer side 80 of the second magnetic portion 34, 96 are open andmay be magnetically engaged by, for example, a first magnetic portion30, 94 on the inner surface 22, 48 of the lid 20, 46 and/or a firstmagnetic portion 30, 94 on the inner side 32, 56 of the annular walls26, 52. Where first magnetic portions 30, 94 are provided on both theinner surface 22, 48 of the lid 20, 46 and the inner side 32, 56 of theannular walls 26, 52, a secure closure is provided with several magneticsurfaces in magnetically engage. The pocket may be formed on the inside84 of, for example, the container body 12 or loader body 42 as shown inFIG. 13, or the outside 86 of container body 12 or loader body 42, orboth.

It is appreciated that the closure system of the present invention couldbe utilized for any item of paintball sport equipment, where a firstsurface is provided defining an opening for receiving paintballs, and alid is provided for covering the opening. First and second magneticportions of opposite polarity are positioned on any lid and any surfacedefining an opening for receiving paintballs, where the first and secondmagnetic portions are aligned to be in magnetically engage when the lidis in a closed position. Alternately, a magnetic portion and arespective magnetically attractable insert are positioned on a lid and apaintball sport item.

In an alternate embodiment, a magnetically attractable insert 60 may beprovided in place of a first magnetic portion or second magnet portion,so long as a corresponding magnetic portion is provided in order tocreate an attraction for closing the lid. The magnetically attractableinsert 60 may be formed as a metallic insert, preferably of amagnetically attractable ferrous metal. As shown in FIG. 14, amagnetically attractable insert 60 may be provided sized and positionedto magnetically engage the first magnetic portion 30, 94 when lid 20, 46is in a closed position on either a paintball container or paintballloader, or another paintball sport equipment item. The magneticallyattractable insert 60 will attract the first magnetic portion 30, 94when the lid is in a closed position, maintaining a secure closure.Alternately, the lid may include a magnetically attractable insert,which is positioned to magnetically engage one of a second magneticportion 34, 96 on, for example, a container body 12 or loader body 42.

In addition, the closure system of the present invention also acts as analignment system for assisting in aligning a paintball container with apaintball loading during a paintball loading operation. As shown in FIG.15, a paintball container body 12 is provided with at least one magneticportion 98 of a first magnetic polarity, or a magnetically attractableinsert 100. A paintball loader body 42 is provided with at least onemagnetic portion 102 of a an opposite magnetic polarity, or amagnetically attractable insert 104, positioned to magnetically engagethe magnetic portion 98 or magnetically attractable insert 100 of thecontainer body 12 when the container body is positioned to pourpaintballs from the paintball container into the paintball loader. Themagnetic attraction between either two magnetic portions, or a magneticportion and a magnetically attractable insert, will therefore aid inaligning the paintball container into the paintball loader duringloading.

In another embodiment of the present invention, shown in FIG. 16, apaintball container 10 has a lid 20 with at least one extension flap 62extending therefrom. The extension flap 62 is sized to reach from thelid 20 to the container body 12. The flap 62 has a first magneticportion 64 on the inner side 66 of the flap 62 facing the container body12. A second magnetic portion 68 of opposite polarity to the firstmagnetic portion 64, is positioned on the container body 12 adjacent theupper portion 36 to magnetically engage the first magnetic portion 64when the lid 20 is in a closed position. The lid 20 may also have ahinge for attaching the lid 20 to the container body 12. A plurality offlaps with a plurality of first magnetic portions may be provided, witha corresponding plurality of second magnetic portions positions on thecontainer body 12 to magnetically engage the first magnetic portions.This arrangement provides an additional secure closure for the lid of apaintball sport item. This same arrangement, using flaps, can be usedwith the lid of a paintball loader, as previously described.

The closure system of the present invention is described forillustrative purposes in connection with a paintball container and apaintball loader. However, the closure system described and claimedherein may be adapted for any paintball sport item that is used to holdpaintballs or other paintball sport accessories such as valve pins,front bolts, velocity adjusters, expansion chambers, barrels, triggerframes, barrel adaptors, power feed adaptors, marker scopes, markercovers, marker holsters, cocking bolts, sight rails, springs, o-rings,turbo valves, air tanks, ball detents, drop forwards, sears, actuatorrods, air block screws, shafts, push pins, air regulators, grips,elbows, or butt plates. The closure system of the present invention maybe used with any paintball sport item having a lid and an opening forreceiving paintball sport accessories.

Having thus described in detail several embodiments of the secureclosure of the present invention, it is to be appreciated and will beapparent to those skilled in the art that many physical changes, only afew of which are exemplified in the detailed description of theinvention, could be made without altering the inventive concepts andprinciples embodied therein. It is also to be appreciated that numerousembodiments incorporating only part of the preferred embodiment arepossible which do not alter, with respect to those parts, the inventiveconcepts and principles embodied therein. The present embodiment andoptional configurations are therefore to be considered in all respectsas exemplary and/or illustrative and not restrictive, the scope of theinvention being indicated by the appended claims rather than by theforegoing description, and all alternate embodiments and changes to thisembodiment which come within the meaning and range of equivalency ofsaid claims are therefore to be embraced therein.

1. A device for feeding paintballs to a paintball marker, comprising: apaintball loader, the paintball loader, comprising a lid and anassociated loader body including an outfeed tube configured to feedpaintballs to a paintball marker, the loader body comprising an openingfor receiving paintballs, at least one of the lid and the loader bodyincluding at least one of a first magnetic portion; and the other of thelid and the loader body having at least one of a second magnetic portionor a magnetically attractable insert, wherein the at least one secondmagnetic portion or the at least one magnetically attractable insert ispositioned to magnetically engage the at least one first magneticportion when the lid is in a closed position.
 2. The device for feedingpaintballs to a paintball marker according to claim 1, wherein the atleast one second magnetic portion has a polarity opposite a polarity ofthe at least one first magnetic portion.
 3. The device for feedingpaintballs to a paintball marker according to claim 1, wherein the lidis connected to the paintball loader item via a retaining element. 4.The device for feeding paintballs to a paintball marker according toclaim 1, wherein the lid further comprises at least one first magneticportion on an outer surface of the lid, the at least one first magneticportion positioned to magnetically engage the at least one magneticportion or second magnetically attractable insert when the outer surfaceof the lid faces the paintball loader and is in a closed position. 5.The device for feeding paintballs to a paintball marker according toclaim 1, wherein the at least one second magnetic portion ormagnetically attractable insert is embedded in the loader body.
 6. Thedevice for feeding paintballs to a paintball marker according to claim1, wherein the at least one second magnetic portion or magneticallyattractable insert is held within a pocket adjacent the opening. 7.(canceled)
 8. A paintball loader, comprising: a lid; and an associatedloader body comprising: a first opening for receiving paintballs, atleast one of the lid and the loader body including at least one of afirst magnetic portion; and the other of the lid and the loader bodyhaving at least one of a second magnetic portion or a magneticallyattractable insert, wherein the at least one second magnetic portion orthe at least one magnetically attractable insert is positioned tomagnetically engage the at least one first magnetic portion when the lidis in a closed position; a second opening sized to feed paintballs intoan opening in a paintball marker, and, an outfeed tube in communicationwith the second opening configured to feed paintballs to a paintballmarker.
 9. A method for loading paintballs into a paintball loader,comprising: providing a paintball loader including a lid, body andoutfeed tube, the lid removably engaged to the body via magneticattracting; removing the lid by overcoming the magnetic attractionbetween the lid and the body; loading paintballs into the paintballloader; and, replacing the lid by permitting magnetic attraction betweenthe lid and the body.